Stealing Heavenly Secrets

Just as they were about to enter the Main Outer Coffin Chamber, Li Zhi and Ye Fan also rode their bicycles to the dirt path outside the Vegetable Greenhouse base.

Before Ye Fan could act, Li Zhi immediately whispered to him, "Ye Fan, don't stop. Keep riding forward."

The two then pedaled through the area along the dirt path, quickly leaving the Vegetable Greenhouse base far behind.

They only stopped when the Vegetable Greenhouse was completely out of sight.

As soon as they halted, Ye Fan asked, "Brother Li, why didn't we stop back there?"

Li Zhi, still shaken, said, "We just walked right past the gates of hell."

If not for his experience, he wouldn't have spotted the gunmen hiding behind the earthen walls of the Vegetable Greenhouse.

Ye Fan was startled. "What's going on?"

Li Zhi replied, "Just now, as we entered the Vegetable Greenhouse base area, someone had a gun trained on us from the shadows. If we'd shown any sign of spying on them, those hidden shooters would've put us down on the spot."

Ye Fan said, "They have that much nerve?"

Li Zhi turned to look Ye Fan in the eye. "Little Leaf, remember one thing your brother's telling you: not everyone respects life. To some people, our lives are worth no more than the chickens and ducks at the market—zero value, and they'll pull the trigger anytime."

This left Ye Fan silent. He'd already braced himself for the worst, but the reality was ten times worse than he'd imagined.

His life was in danger at any moment.

If he hadn't been with Li Zhi, Ye Fan couldn't imagine what trouble he'd have run into coming alone—just thinking about it sent chills down his spine.

Seeing Ye Fan's spirits low, Li Zhi patted his shoulder and said, "With security this tight, even willing to kill to cover things up, we've definitely come to the right place. Something important is bound to be unearthed."

Then Li Zhi walked to the roadside, tossed his bicycle into a ditch, and said, "Little Leaf, grab some food to recharge. Tonight's going to be a show."

Ye Fan asked curiously, "What kind of show?"

Li Zhi grinned. "A show of turning on each other."

As Li Zhi had said, the Main Outer Coffin Chamber had already been opened by those people.

What came into view were crates and crates of Horseshoe Gold, along with crates of bamboo slips, and weapons that looked priceless—blades, swords, halberds, spears, shields, and even six suits of armor.

Near the coffin, various bronze ritual vessels were neatly arranged into a Battle Formation.

It seemed the tomb's owner had been a high-ranking general in life, given a lavish burial by the emperor.

Inside the chamber, for some reason, the large lacquered wooden coffin had collapsed.

Inside lay a skeleton in armor, and where its right arm should have been, there was an arm carved from white jade.

It appeared the general had only had his left arm in life.

After his death, the emperor had ordered a Jade Arm to complete his mutilated body, allowing him to be buried whole.

At the skeleton's waist hung a sword, entirely Golden Yellow, as if forged from gold.

And in the hand of the Jade Arm was a Jade Scroll.

After the Scholar got his hands on the Jade Scroll and the sword, he rushed over excitedly.

He pulled out the Jade Scroll and started snapping photos, click-click.

Seeing this, Brother Qiang immediately sidled up and asked, "Scholar, what's that?"

The Scholar, seemingly ecstatic, said excitedly, "This is the real deal—something that can let a man live forever."

He didn't notice at all that Brother Qiang had signaled the man behind him with a gesture to silence him.

The treasures in the Main Outer Coffin Chamber were far too astonishing.

Brother Qiang no longer wanted to share the spoils with the Scholar as agreed.

So he figured the Scholar, his partner, had outlived his usefulness.

Suddenly, the sound of a chainsaw rang out again in the Main Outer Coffin Chamber.

With a "vroom," Brother Qiang's head was sawed off from behind by someone with the chainsaw.

Then another tomb raider, who'd been about to ambush the Scholar from behind, was run through the chest from behind with a chisel.

His heart was pierced.

He dropped dead on the spot.

Seeing this, the Scholar tore off his gas mask, revealing a thirty-something, refined face with a mocking smile.

The two who'd acted also pulled off their gas masks and said to the Scholar, "Mr. Xu, what do we do next?"

The Scholar said, "Aside from this Golden Sword and this Jade Scroll, I won't take a single other treasure in here. They're all yours."

"Thank you, Mr. Xu," the two said excitedly.

Then the Scholar, surnamed Xu, put on thick gloves and picked up the Jade Scroll and the Golden Sword.

But before he could carry them out of the chamber.

The Golden Sword suddenly burst forth a wisp of Sword Qi, piercing straight through his forehead.

Then the Golden Sword, as if its mission was done, crumbled like dehydrated tofu dregs into a pile of powder.

And the Jade Scroll, under the impact of the Sword Qi, turned to dust.

The two other grave robbers hauling bronze ritual vessels and Horseshoe Gold were instantly terrified.

They turned and fled without looking back.

But before they could even reach the inclined shaft, they collapsed to the ground without warning, lifeless—as if their souls had been erased in an instant.

The grave-robbing crew of six, plus that Scholar surnamed Xu, made seven in total.

By now, five had fallen underground.

Only the two holding guns and standing watch outside were still alive.

Night fell, and the Vegetable Greenhouse base grew deathly silent. Even the chirping of insects and birds gradually faded, as if a sinister aura slowly enveloped the entire site.

An eerie stillness settled over the greenhouse base.

One of the grave robbers on lookout cautiously slipped away from his post and scrambled up the wall of the neighboring greenhouse in a few steps.

Another man, crouched behind a straw mat on the earthen wall, scanned the surroundings from his vantage point.

"Brother Wu," the man suddenly called out, startling the other.

"Changgui, aren't you supposed to be watching your post? What are you doing over here?" Jia Xiaowu slowly lowered his gun and immediately scowled at Zhang Changgui.

"Brother Wu, don't be mad—I'm not trying to slack off. But don't you think it's too quiet tonight? No matter how careful they are in the greenhouse, they'd still make some noise. I'm worried something's gone wrong down there."

Zhang Changgui's lookout spot was closer to Greenhouse No. 4. Before the sun had fully set, he could faintly hear the sound of a chainsaw from inside. But ever since the sky went completely dark, no sound had come out at all.

Now another hour had passed, and still nothing.

Logically, they'd be talking and making noise while moving things.

Jia Xiaowu said dismissively, "With Brother Qiang and the Scholar down there, we don't need to worry. It's probably just a snag extracting the artifacts, and the Scholar's being stubborn again—won't let Brother Qiang and the others use force."

Zhang Changgui figured that explanation made sense. If that Scholar Xu hadn't insisted on not damaging a single artifact, they'd have emptied the tomb long ago instead of dragging this out for three years.

Still, Zhang Changgui was grateful to that Scholar Xu. If they hadn't followed his method of excavating the ancient tomb, their earnings probably wouldn't even be a tenth of what they were now.

Those broken, shabby items they'd once dismissed—once the Scholar Xu got his hands on them and did a bit of restoration—turned into priceless treasures.

They chatted a bit more, then Jia Xiaowu said to Zhang Changgui, "Changgui, you'd better get back to your post. We can't let any outsiders sneak in. I think those two Young men on bicycles we saw today were pretty suspicious—can't let them find a way in."

Zhang Changgui scoffed. "Kids these days, all talk. If they saw the hardware we're packing, they'd probably piss their pants."

Jia Xiaowu chuckled. "Don't be so sure. What if one of them's a hothead?"

Zhang Changgui grinned. "Even better. I like hotheads. I'll show them that heads are never harder than bullets."

Killing seemed to carry no psychological burden for them.

Another hour passed. The night was deep now, and the streetlights in the distant village had gone out.

Zhang Changgui, standing watch outside Greenhouse No. 4, still hadn't heard any noise from inside. He went back to Jia Xiaowu again.

Jia Xiaowu frowned in annoyance. "Changgui, you're abandoning your post again. You want Brother Qiang to deal with you?"

Zhang Changgui said, a hint of worry in his voice, "Brother Wu, something feels off. There's no one around out here—should we go in and check?"

Jia Xiaowu stood up from the pile of straw mats, scanned the pitch-black surroundings, and saw no one. "Fine. In and out quick."

With that, Zhang Changgui slipped into Greenhouse No. 4.

The lights inside were off. He could only rely on the faint moonlight filtering through the plastic sheeting to feel his way to the vertical shaft.

A dim light was coming from inside the shaft.

Crouching at the opening, Zhang Changgui called down, "Brother Qiang?"

No response. He called again, "Monkey?"

Still nothing.

The seasoned Zhang Changgui sensed something had gone wrong underground. He immediately tightened his grip on the pistol in his pocket.